Republican · Texas's 28th District · 2026
Tano Tijerina
Tijerina played minor league baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers organization before returning to Laredo to finish college.
Biography
Tano Tijerina has credited his wife, Kimberly, with encouraging him to finish college and described raising four children, two of them adopted, as his proudest achievement.12 His roots are in Laredo, where he graduated from J.W. Nixon High School.3
Before county government, he played four years of minor league baseball after the Milwaukee Brewers drafted him in 1993.3 He returned to Laredo and graduated from Texas A&M International University in 2002, studying fitness and sports with a minor in criminal justice.3
First elected as a Democrat in 2014, he began leading Webb County in January 2015 and switched to the Republican Party in December 2024.4 As county judge, he is the county executive, a role that has put him in local debates over infrastructure, public spending and growth.5
He has also chaired the Texas Border Coalition, which works on trade, transportation, education and health issues affecting border communities.2 His congressional platform calls for stronger border enforcement, practical immigration reform, lower taxes and fewer federal regulations.6 He supports cryptocurrency innovation while saying technology projects must protect local water, land and affordable electricity.6 He faces Democratic incumbent Henry Cuellar and Green candidate Marlón Durán in the redrawn 28th District, putting federal spending and border policy at stake.75
Record and controversies
Exploratory committee complaint
A November 2025 FEC complaint alleged that Tijerina had already decided to run for Congress while using an exploratory committee, delaying registration to avoid Texas's rule requiring certain local officials to resign when announcing another candidacy early.8 His committee denied crossing any legal line and called the complaint politically motivated.8 He formally launched on December 2, when the timing allowed him to remain county judge; that chronology does not itself resolve the complaint about earlier activity.4 This review had not verified a public FEC disposition as of October 29, 2026.
Property tax rate versus tax bills
Spectrum News examined Tijerina's 2026 claim that he lowered property taxes five times and confirmed five reductions in Webb County's tax rate, while reporting that average bills nevertheless increased in those years as property values rose.9 His campaign emphasized that he cut the county rate and did not control home appraisals.9 A lower rate and a lower bill are different measures; the report does not say every individual homeowner's bill increased.9